Not everything that’s going down over the next two days, but enough to make you wait a little while for dessert. Give it a peek.
SATURDAY:
»No. 13 Vanderbilt @ Kentucky (1:30). A slow buildup to this game has many thinking an overrated Vanderbilt team falls to a “gotta be better than this!” Wildcat squad.
»Connecticut @ No. 7 Georgetown (2 p.m.). Few teams tickle my interest more than UConn this year. I’m not quite sure what they’re about, but I think we’re all about to find out on Saturday.
»Notre Dame @ No. 15 Marquette (2 p.m.). Great game here, and if Notre Dame wins, they should be in both Top 25 polls. (And easily will be.) I see it as a dog fight.
»Arizona @ Houston (3 p.m.). Great barometer game. Houston (low RPI school) gets a home game against an Arizona team who (per usual) has five losses before mid-January. A loss here for UH, and it may be too tough of a hill to climb into the at-large picture. A loss for AZ? No worry, they’ll still be all-but-assured an at-large berth in eight weeks!
»No. 4 Washington State @ No. 5 UCLA (2:30 p.m.). It’s the biggie. I’d like to see WSU win this game, but it might be asking too much for a school who’s really new to the national success scene to get a win against UCLA. Then again, it is inside the conference, and the USC win could propel them. Best pre-game matchup of the season so far? Eh, I was more pumped for G’Town/Memphis.
»Florida State @ No. 18 Clemson (7 p.m.). The Tigers have dropped two in a row, and if they fall at home to a Florida State team that tends to show up in big games, then the sky really might be falling at Clemson.
»No. 3 Kansas @ Nebraska (9 p.m.). I really like Nebraska’s chances in this one, and I remember the ‘Huskers almost beating a really good Kansas squad in Lincoln about six years back…vague memory, but I know it happened. Relevant to Saturday’s game? Of course not!
SUNDAY:
»Duquesne @ No. 22 Rhode Island (2 p.m.). Duquesne is a team that needs some mo’ inside the A-10, so a win at Rhodey would really boost their rep. As for the Rams, they really need this win after being handled by Dayton on Wednesday. Dropping two straight in league play won’t be an indictment of the team, but they’ll have broken out that shovel with an L against the Dukes.
»Syracuse @ West Virginia (2:30 p.m.). Read about it in the previous post.
»No. 23 Stanford @ Oregon (4:30 p.m.). Oregon has gotten back on track, but Stanford is a unique matchup. This one’s really a toss-up, but you have to take the Ducks (given how they play at home) to knock the Cardinal out of the Top 25.
»Virginia @ No. 9 Duke (8 p.m.). Duke has let their past two opponents (Cornell, Temple) hang around (by Duke standards) much longer than they should have. Will UVA clip the K’s? It’d be a helluva surprise to see Duke lose their first conference game…
